Syrian toddler, family died trying to get to Canada – CNN

Story highlights
Family were trying to make it to Canada, CNN partner reports
A toddler from Syria was one of 12 people to drown off Turkey
A haunting image of him has been shared with the tag “Flotsam of Humanity”

They wanted what anyone does — what hundreds of thousands of people fleeing violence, who have flooded Europe, deserve — a safe home.
Abdullah’s sister Tima Kurdi, who lives in Vancouver, filed refugee paperwork to obtain permission for the family to live in Canada, but the application had been rejected in June, according to Canadian Member of Parliament Fin Donnelly.
Kurdi informed Donnelly that her brother, the children’s father, called her to tell her that the boys and their mother died trying to make the crossing from Turkey to Greece.
The world learned of Aylan’s death when a photo of the boy was shared widely on social media.

It shows the toddler on his stomach, face down on a beach in Turkey. He looks like he’s sleeping the way so many children his age do, with their bottoms raised and heads gently to the side.

The image of the dead boy has stirred outrage among people in Canada and throughout the world.
Many are demanding to know what went wrong. Why did this child, his brother and mother have to die? Wasn’t there some way to give them that safer life?
Members of the Kurdi family told CNN partner CTV on Wednesday night that they were too distraught to speak to the media.
It appears that in the middle of the night, Tima Kurdi went on Facebook and posted the heartbreaking image of her nephew, dead on the beach, juxtaposed with a family photo of the boy smiling shyly, wearing a yellow jacket, his hair neatly combed, shoulder to shoulder with his brother.

Kurdi family one of many
The family’s story isn’t that different from those of migrants who have taken huge gambles, traveling by boat or train, shoving into buses or walking for days, sometimes months, trying to reach safe haven.
Many have died. In one case, 71 bodies — mostly people who had fled Syria — were found in August in an abandoned truck in Austria. Their alleged smugglers were arrested in Hungary and Italy.
“We are talking about human trafficking, homicide, even murder,” said Johann Fuchs, state prosecutor of Eisenstadt, Austria.